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Explorer 6
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<p>Explorer 6, or S-2, was a <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> satellite, launched on 7 August 1959, at 14:24:20 <a href="/facts/Greenwich_Mean_Time/JpSIdWsn">GMT</a>. It was a small, spherical satellite designed to study trapped radiation of various energies, galactic <a href="/facts/Cosmic_ray/uxCVdTKd">cosmic rays</a>, <a href="/facts/Earth%2527s_magnetic_field/73G36wmx">geomagnetism</a>, <a href="/facts/Radio_propagation/80y1JV4M">radio propagation</a> in the <a href="/facts/Upper_atmosphere/5yH29VP8">upper atmosphere</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Flux/Aw3P5Bvb">flux</a> of <a href="/facts/Micrometeorites/zo1KdLnJ">micrometeorites</a>. It also tested a scanning device designed for photographing the <a href="/facts/Earth/HLLmDfj0">Earth</a>'s <a href="/facts/Cloud_cover/yWV7Pnx9">cloud cover</a>. On 14 August 1959, Explorer 6 took the <a href="/facts/Timeline_of_first_images_of_Earth_from_space/7AaIRP7Y">first photos of Earth</a> from a satellite. </p>